Possible depreciation of the US dollar for unsustainable current account deficit in the United States

Zahlungsbilanzungleichgewicht, US-Dollar, Vereinigte Staaten, Balance of payments imbalances, US Dollar, United States

How much depreciation of the US dollar for sustainability of the current accounts?

In this paper, we conduct a simulation analysis to investigate how much depreciation of the US dollar is needed to reduce the current account deficits in the near future. We use some VAR models to estimate relationships between the exchange rate of the US dollar and the current accounts in the United States. We conclude that some scenarios of the US dollar depreciation would reduce the current account deficits to a level under 2% of GDP in the next several years. The results are regarded as robust for each of the scenarios thought they depend on our supposed VAR models.US dollar depreciation, Current account sustainability, Investment-saving balance, International trade flows, Vector Autoregression (VAR)

Time Series Management for Operational River Basin Management

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv

The Weekly January 22, 2002

For the monitoring of the global 3-D distribution of aerosol components, we developed the method to retrieve the vertical profiles of water-soluble, light absorbing carbonaceous, dust, and sea salt particles by the synergy of CALIOP and MODIS data. The aerosol product from the synergistic method is expected to be better than the individual products of CALIOP and MODIS. We applied the method to the biomass-burning event in Africa and the dust event in West Asia. The reasonable results were obtained; the much amount of the water-soluble and light absorbing carbonaceous particles were estimated in the biomass-burning event, and the dust particles were estimated in the dust event

p53 gene mutation in N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine-induced urinary bladder tumors and N-methyl-N-nitrosourea-induced colon tumors of rats

We analyzed p53 mutations in 17 N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine-induced bladder transitional cell carcinomas (TCCs) with or without areas of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of Long–Evans Cinnamon (LEC) and F344 rats, and in 7 N-methyl-N-nitrosourea-induced colon adenocarcinomas of LEC rats by polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism analysis and DNA sequencing. Of these bladder tumors, one TCC with moderately differentiated SCC had a T to G transversion mutation at codon 141, leading to a Val to Gly amino acid change. No p53 mutation was found in colon adenocarcinomas. Thus a p53 gene mutation seems infrequent in these rat bladder and colon carcinogenesis models even in the late stage

Intimal sarcoma from the iliac artery

We present a rare case of intimal sarcoma arising from the common iliac artery in an 82-year-old man who presented with intermittent claudication. He had undergone endovascular therapy with self-expanding stents to both iliac arteries that had occluded soon after placement. After salvage bypass grafting, a diagnosis of intimal sarcoma with angiosarcoma phenotype from the iliac artery was made. Further bypass graft surgery relieved symptoms temporarily. However, the tumor progressed and the left limb became ischemic. The chemotherapy of eribulin did not prevent tumor progression. The patient died of the disease 20 months after the first surgery

Asymmetric responses of East Asian currencies to the US dollar depreciation for reducing the US current account deficits

In this paper, we investigate responses of East Asian currencies to the US dollar depreciation in the near future. First, we show that a significant depreciation of the US dollar will be necessary in order to reduce the current account deficits. Second, we show that the responses of the East Asian currencies to a sudden and sharp depreciation of the US dollar will differ with countries because of the different degree of linkages of the East Asian currencies to the US dollar. Based on the above analyses, a regional coordination of the exchange rate policy is necessary to the East Asian countries to response appropriately to a possible depreciation of the US dollar in the near future

The dopamine D1 receptor is expressed and induces CREB phosphorylation and MUC5AC expression in human airway epithelium

Background Dopamine receptors comprise two subgroups, Gs protein-coupled “D1-like” receptors (D1, D5) and Gi-coupled “D2-like” receptors (D2, D3, D4). In airways, both dopamine D1 and D2 receptors are expressed on airway smooth muscle and regulate airway smooth muscle force. However, functional expression of the dopamine D1 receptor has never been identified on airway epithelium. Activation of Gs-coupled receptors stimulate adenylyl cyclase leading to cyclic AMP (cAMP) production, which is known to induce mucus overproduction through the cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) in airway epithelial cells. We questioned whether the dopamine D1 receptor is expressed on airway epithelium, and whether it promotes CREB phosphorylation and MUC5AC expression. Methods We evaluated the protein expression of the dopamine D1 receptor on native human airway epithelium and three sources of cultured human airway epithelial cells including primary cultured airway epithelial cells, the bronchial epithelial cell line (16HBE14o-), and the pulmonary mucoepidermoid carcinoma cell line (NCI-H292) using immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting. To characterize the stimulation of cAMP through the dopamine D1 receptor, 16HBE14o- cells and NCI-H292 cells were treated with dopamine or the dopamine D1 receptor agonists (SKF38393 or A68930) before cAMP measurements. The phosphorylation of CREB by A68930 in both 16HBE14o- and NCI-H292 cells was measured by immunoblot. The effect of dopamine or A68930 on the expression of MUC5AC mRNA and protein in NCI-H292 cells was evaluated by real-time PCR and immunofluorescence staining, respectively. Results The dopamine D1 receptor protein was detected in native human airway epithelium and three sources of cultured human airway epithelial cells. Dopamine or the dopamine D1-like receptor agonists stimulated cAMP production in 16HBE14o- cells and NCI-H292 cells, which was reversed by the selective dopamine D1-like receptor antagonists (SCH23390 or SCH39166). A68930 significantly increased phosphorylation of CREB in both 16HBE14o- and NCI-H292 cells, which was attenuated by the inhibitors of PKA (H89) and MEK (U0126). Expression of MUC5AC mRNA and protein were also increased by either dopamine or A68930 in NCI-H292 cells. Conclusions These results suggest that the activation of the dopamine D1 receptor on human airway epithelium could induce mucus overproduction, which could worsen airway obstructive symptoms

FAMILIAL ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

Five different types of point mutation of the β-amyloid precursor gene (APP) have been reported to cosegregate with familial Alzheimer’s disease (FAD) in each of examined pedigrees (Table 1). Here we report a screening result of the APP gene mutations in two Japanese pedigrees with FAD of an early onset type which have previously been reported (2, 3). Primer pairs corresponding respectively to each of 19 exons of the APP gene were designed. Polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) analysis was performed on genomic DNA of one affected member from each of these two pedigrees. In addition, a pair of primers was designed to assess specifically codon 717 of the APP gene even in the poorly-preserved sample of genomic DNA. PCR-SSCP analysis of all 19 exons of the APP gene of both patients did not show any mutations, but disclosed one polymorphism in the intron 9. Sequencing of exons 16 and 17 of the APP gene in both patients, where all reported pathogenic mutations are located, revealed normal sequences. The results support that the genetic defect causing FAD is heterogeneous and that most cases with FAD are apparently due to the gene-defect of other than the APP gene